Hello readers,
Today, I would like to talk to you about life in Northern Saskatchewan, and one of my favorite memories here. As mentioned in my first blog, I am from Meadow Lake, Saskatchewan. Meadow Lake started out as a trading post in 1799 and soon grew to a small village. Meadow Lake continued to grow throughout the 1900s and was boosted with the introduction of the three mills. Meadow Lake is often nicknamed “the Mill Town” and even has a great restaurant named after it. These mills offer a wide variety of jobs for pretty much any field of study. However, I truly believe that what draws people to the area is how scenic the forests and lakes are around here. With these natural landscapes come some of the best fishing and hunting opportunities out there! Let me tell you what a Northern Sask fishing trip looks like...
Every year, my friends, some former teachers and I love to make a trip up North of Meadow Lake to Buffalo Narrows, Saskatchewan. Buffalo Narrows is situated between two massive lakes, Peter Pond and Churchill Lake. Both lakes have arguably the best fishing in Saskatchewan. Whether you are looking to land that trophy pike or catch some walleye for dinner, there is many ways to fish these lakes. I won’t tell you where the best spot on the lake is because there simply isn’t one... you can drop a hook almost anywhere and be sure to catch fish.
Walleye is by far the most popular fish to eat in Saskatchewan due to its mild taste. Almost anywhere in Saskatchewan, you would be ecstatic to catch maybe a couple walleye for dinner. However, up in Northern Sask, you begin to catch so many walleye that you get bored and decide to target the larger, more aggressive northern pike!
We arrived at my teacher, Mr. K’s cabin on Friday night. Him and his son Tyler had been out fishing that day and had caught 70 walleye (catch and release of course). We had a nice campfire and laid out the plan for the weekend. Having been there around the end of June, the sky never really got dark at night. The next morning, we were ready to hit the water.
After a quick breakfast, the 8 of us headed to the boat launch to launch our 2 boats. We had split up into two teams to create a sort of competition or derby. We also had little side bets for first fish, biggest fish, smallest fish, most fish by a person. We headed to the first spot and instantly started reeling in walleye after walleye. I was lucky enough to catch the first one and got $2. We fished the entire day and ended up in the lead by about 8 walleye.
We then cruised home to have another fire and cook up some of our fish. We also started playing music and singing karaoke as well!
On day 2, the final day, we ventured out to finish our competition. The other boat, led by my teacher Mr. Dallyn, not only closed the gap on quantity of fish... but they also reeled in the biggest fish of the weekend, a 13lb Northern Pike! The fishing had come to an end, and we ended up falling just short of the win. Nonetheless, we all had a blast and had gained memories to last a lifetime!
I hope this story gives you an idea of what life is like living in Northern Saskatchewan. I also hope you can see why this area is one of my favourite places in the world. Green jobs can be found in any type of community from small towns to cities. Having a job in a rural community may just be that breath of fresh air(literally) that you’re looking for!
Until next time,
Drew
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